


The Woodsman and the Wolf

by Intergalactic_Asher



Category: Friends at the Table (Podcast)
Genre: M/M, fairytale AU, idk this is weird and I hope it's good, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-19
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22320067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intergalactic_Asher/pseuds/Intergalactic_Asher
Summary: Secret Samol 2019! Prompt was Samsam fairytale AU. I hope this is... enjoyable??
Relationships: Samot/Samothes (Friends at the Table)
Kudos: 4
Collections: Secret Samol 2019





	The Woodsman and the Wolf

**Author's Note:**

  * For [hollyhock (willowthorn)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/willowthorn/gifts).



Once upon a time there was a Wolf. His teeth were sharp and angry, his eyes piercing and bright. He was known as the menace of the forest, for his belly was never full, no matter how many animals he gobbled down.

Now it so happened that in this same forest there lived a Woodsman. He was as strong as a bear, with a broad chest and a deep, joyful voice. It was said that when the Woodsman laughed, the sun itself shone brighter. But he rarely laughed, for he had much work, and little time to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

And for some time, this was the way of things in the forest. The Wolf howled with hunger and the Woodsman clanged away at his anvil. All around them, the little animals were born and grew old and died, but this was of little matter to the two great creatures.

One day as the Wolf stalked through the woods, he heard a strange sound. The Woodsman was walking nearby on the path, whistling as he went about his work. The Wolf saw that the Woodsman was broad and healthy, and thought he would make a fine meal. So he followed the Woodsman to a spot where he was gathering kindling for the great oven in his forge. And when the Woodsman’s back was turned, the Wolf sprang from the shadows and killed the Woodsman and swallowed him down. And that is the end of the story.

***

Once upon a time there was a Wolf. His teeth dripped with blood, and he snarled at everything he passed, for he was new to the world and uncertain on his paws. He could remember a time when he had eaten a great Woodsman, but the world had forgotten. He stalked the forest, angry and plotting.

Now in this same forest there lived a father and his son. The father was as old as the trees themselves, and he could remember a time before the Wolf had been a Wolf at all, and was just a Shadow that devoured all it touched. He told his son to be careful of the Wolf when he played in the woods, for it didn’t yet know how to come close to something without eating it. The boy pitied the Wolf, all alone in the wide world. But he did as his father told him, and he built a fence around the house to keep the Wolf out, and he ran inside when he heard the Wolf’s desperate howling.

In time the boy grew into a young man, eager to set out in the world and make his own fortune. He walked away from his father’s house with his hammer slung over his shoulder, and the sun overhead as his guide. He worked hard and became a great Woodsman. First he built a kiln, and pulled clay from the earth and made a house of bricks. Then he built a forge, and pulled metal ores from deep below the ground and made a fence of iron. The little animals flocked to his land, for he kept them safe from the Wolf and the hazards of the forest. And soon he had not only a home but a city all his own, and he took care of each and every animal according to its need, so that it never had to forage for food, or search for safety among the trees.

But the Wolf watched these proceedings with jealousy. All the little animals were cared for and full inside the Woodsman’s city, while the Wolf found himself starving to death without prey. So one night, he slipped his emaciated body between the bars of the Woodsman’s iron fence, and he gobbled up all the little animals inside the city. And then he lay down to sleep.

When dawn came, the Woodsman found the Wolf sleeping in the wreckage of the city he had so carefully built, and in anger he took down his axe and he killed the wolf then and there. And that is the end of the story.

***

Once upon a time in the same forest there lived a Wolf and a Woodsman, and they were the bitterest of rivals.The Woodsman had built a great city within the forest, and guarded it jealously against the Wolf. Day and night they glared at each other through the Woodsman’s iron fence, while inside the city the little animals went about their lives, and outside the forest bloomed and died and bloomed again.

The wolf was hungry, and he was canny, and he possessed a vast and deadly patience. He waited until he knew the time was right, and then he went to see the Woodsman’s father. This was an old man who lived clear on the other side of the forest, and took few visitors. None can say why he let the Wolf in his house that day. But the Wolf proved an amicable guest, and when the Woodsman’s father went to visit his son’s city, the Wolf followed behind him, the picture of meekness and obedience. And so the Woodsman had no choice but to allow the Wolf to follow his father into his city.

The little animals hid in terror as the wolf stalked among them, for his belly was growling, and he fixed each of them with a glare that might have blotted out the sun in the sky. But the Woodsman and his father paid the wolf no mind. They spoke only of the forest, and of the lives of the little animals, and of the Woodsman’s latest inventions. So the wolf stalked through the city, and when night fell he curled up far from the Woodsman’s home to sleep, still wracked with hunger.

The Woodsman came in the middle of the night to see the Wolf. He crept up close to his sleeping foe, meaning only to observe him. But he stepped on a dried twig and snapped it loudly, waking the Wolf with a start. A great battle ensued as the Wolf and the Woodsman fought, each certain the other meant to kill him. They fought on and on until the sun crept above the horizon, and then, exhausted, they both laid down and didn’t get back up. And that is the end of the story.

***

Once upon a time there was an old man who lived in the woods. His long life had been full of love, but still he was sad. The old man had a son, you see, and the son was a Woodsman. He was as arrogant as he was talented and as lonely as he was strong. The old man wished for a happier life for his son, and so he sought out the Wolf, who it was said could bring a smile to even the dourest face - if it wanted to.

The Wolf didn’t wish to help the old man. It had heard of the Woodsman, and the way he kept the little animals locked away inside his city. It declared that the Woodsman was its enemy, and that the Wolf would eat his heart the day they met face to face. But the old man reminded the Wolf of the time before it was a Wolf, and of the good turn the old man had done for it then. And so reluctantly, the Wolf followed the old man to the edge of the Woodsman’s city.

The old man sought out his son while the Wolf skulked in the shadows, plotting. But when the Woodsman appeared, the Wolf stopped in its tracks. The Woodsman was tall and strong, handsome and hardworking. The wolf approached cautiously, and the two of them looked at each other through the Woodsman’s iron fence.

“I will eat your heart,” the Wolf said.

And so the Wolf and the Woodsman became friends. They walked together through the Woodsman’s city, observing the lives of the little animals and debating the merits of iron. The Woodsman learned slowly how to smile and joke, and the Wolf learned how not to lick menacingly at his jaws when they passed another creature. And they stayed together when the sun set, and for many days after that. And the little animals rejoiced, because the wolf taught them how to forage on their own and enjoy the fruits of their work, and the Woodsman ensured that they would have safety and support. And for a long time things were happy in the forest. But that is not the end of the story.

***

Once upon a time there was a small boy who was the son of a Woodsman and a Wolf. He loved his fathers, and when he would go out to play in the forest he would always come running home when one of them called to him. But one day the Woodsman called him home, and he was alone. When the boy asked after the Wolf, his father told him never to mind about that, and that the most important thing was the safety of the city. So the boy grew taller and stronger, and his father grew sadder and lonelier. And the city of little animals grew colder and more afraid.

Eventually the boy grew into a young man, and set off to seek the Wolf his father had loved. For days he trailed it through the forest, watching it from afar as it went about its business. When the young man confronted the Wolf, it explained to him that it had left the Woodsman to save the forest from disaster. The young man loved the forest and loved the Wolf, and so he agreed to help. He returned to the Woodsman’s city, and amid the rejoicing he slipped into his father’s home and killed him, and the Wolf came into the city and ate the Woodsman’s heart. But that is not the end of the story.

***

Once upon a time there was a Wolf. Its fur was worn and ragged, its muzzle scarred by time and sorrow. It had ruled the city of little animals for a long time, alone without its beloved Woodsman or its brave son. The Wolf had seen the forest die around it, and while it once sought to avert this disaster, now it only watched with dull and hopeless eyes as the little animals searched desperately for safety. But though the Wolf was beaten and tired, its belly still rumbled, and its teeth were sharp and white. With nothing left to lose, the Wolf unleashed its fury on the little animals, gobbling them up whole. But the little animals had grown resourceful and strong with no Woodsman to provide for them, and they attacked the Wolf and tore it into little pieces. And that is the end of the story.

***

Once upon a time there was a place far away from any forest. It was away across the water, full of ghosts and sunlight. There was the ghost of a Woodsman, and the ghost of a Wolf. And though the two ghosts were hurt and afraid, they came together once more. They walked together in the land of ghosts, with no iron fence to separate them from the world. And far far away from them, the little animals had made their own forest without the interference of the great creatures. And nobody lived happily ever after, but everyone was happy some of the time. And that is not the end of the story, because the story will never really end, but we will leave it there, full of uncertain peace and promises.


End file.
